Aminoglycoside antibiotics have proven to be a valuable class of antibiotics which include the streptomycins, kanamycins, neomycins, gentamicins, tobramycins, amikacin and the more recently discovered fortimicins. As with other classes of antibiotics, chemical modification of the parent antibiotics has been found to advantageously alter either the pharmacological properties or the antibacterial properties of many of the naturally produced aminoglycoside antibiotics either by increasing their antibacterial spectrum, increasing their intrinsic activity, increasing their activity against resistant strains or providing compounds which are less toxic than the parent antibiotics.
Chemical modification has been found to be of value in the fortimicin family of antibiotics as well. See for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,091,032; 4,207,314; 4,124,746; 4,192,867; 4,169,198; 4,183,920; 4,176,178; 4,187,296; 4,187,298; 4,187,297 and 4,187,299.
Another valuable modification is disclosed in commonly assigned, co-pending application Ser. No. 25,236 filed Mar. 29, 1979, now abandoned, which claims 2-epi-fortimicin A, 2-epi-fortimicin B and 2-epi-4-N-acyl and alkylfortimicin B derivatives. The present invention provides intermediates useful in the preparation of the 2-epi-fortimicins A and B.